Also known as Merchants’ House. Four-story edifice with columned entrance and arched sign on roof. Located at 88 Pearl Street (oldest street in city). JS and Bishop Newel K. Whitney journeyed to New York City, fall 1832, and stayed at hotel. While at hotel...

According
to an October 1832 newspaper
article, the Pearl Street
House had existed for twenty-five years and was
“extensively known as the resort of merchants from every part of the
Union especially from the western part of the state of New
York and from Ohio.” The hotel faced two
parallel streets (Pearl and Water), stretching the entire distance
between them. It included “four story buildings” as well as “a small
court yard and a two story edifice, on the roof of which is a flower
garden.” In the summer of
1832, the boarding house—which was “the largest
commercial boarding house in the United
States”— underwent extensive renovations, including the
“erection of spacious additional buildings, containing several
elegant dining rooms on the second floor, and ranges of sleeping
rooms above.” It could accommodate up to three hundred boarders and
was “kept by Messrs. Brown, of
Clinton Co., and
Mahon, late commander of the steamboat New
Philadelphia, from whom every thing may be expected in the way of
civility and attention.” (“Events of the Day &c.,”
Evening Post [New York City], 26 Oct. 1832,
[2].)

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

This day I have been walking through the most
splended part of the city of New
York

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

— the buildings are truly great and wonderful to the
astonishing of every beholder and the language of my
heart is like this can the great God of all the Earth maker of all
things magnificent and splended be displeased with man for all
these great inventions saught out by them my answer is no it cannot
be seeing these works are calculated to makemen comfortable wise and happy therefore not for the works can
the Lord be displeased only aganst man is the anger of the Lord
kindled because they Give him not the Glory therefore their
iniquities shall be visited upon their
heads and their works shall be burned up with unquenchable fire the
inequity iniquity of the people is
printed in every countinance and nothing but the dress of the
people makes them look fair and butiful all is deformity their is
something in every countinance that is disagreable with few
exceptions Oh how long Oh Lord Shall this order of things
exist and darkness cover the Earth and gross darkness cover the
people3

30 Apr. 1831–12 Sept. 1880. Born in Warrensville, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio. Daughter of John Murdock and Julia Clapp. After death of mother, adopted by JS and Emma Smith at age of nine days. Lived in Hiram, Portage Co., Ohio, 1831. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co....

Also known as Merchants’ House. Four-story edifice with columned entrance and arched sign on roof. Located at 88 Pearl Street (oldest street in city). JS and Bishop Newel K. Whitney journeyed to New York City, fall 1832, and stayed at hotel. While at hotel...

According
to an October 1832 newspaper
article, the Pearl Street
House had existed for twenty-five years and was
“extensively known as the resort of merchants from every part of the
Union especially from the western part of the state of New
York and from Ohio.” The hotel faced two
parallel streets (Pearl and Water), stretching the entire distance
between them. It included “four story buildings” as well as “a small
court yard and a two story edifice, on the roof of which is a flower
garden.” In the summer of
1832, the boarding house—which was “the largest
commercial boarding house in the United
States”— underwent extensive renovations, including the
“erection of spacious additional buildings, containing several
elegant dining rooms on the second floor, and ranges of sleeping
rooms above.” It could accommodate up to three hundred boarders and
was “kept by Messrs. Brown, of
Clinton Co., and
Mahon, late commander of the steamboat New
Philadelphia, from whom every thing may be expected in the way of
civility and attention.” (“Events of the Day &c.,”
Evening Post [New York City], 26 Oct. 1832,
[2].)

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

This day I have been walking through the most
splended part of the city of New
Y[ork]

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

— the buildings are truly great and wonderful to the
astonishing <of>to eve[r]y beholder and the language of my
heart is like this can the great God of all the Earth maker of all
things magnificent and splended be displeased with man for all
these great inventions saught out by them my answer is no it cannot
be seeing these works are are calculated to mak[e]men comfortable wise and happy therefore not for the works can
the Lord be displeased only aganst man is the anger of the Lord
kindled because they Give him not the Glory therefore their
iniquities shall <be> visited upon their
heads and their works shall be burned up with unquenchable fire the
inequity [iniquity] of the people is
printed in every countinance and nothing but the dress of the
people makes them look fair and butiful all is deformity their is
something in every countinance that is disagreable with few
exceptions Oh how long Oh Lord Shall this order of things
exist and darkness cover the Earth and gross darkness cover the
people3

30 Apr. 1831–12 Sept. 1880. Born in Warrensville, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio. Daughter of John Murdock and Julia Clapp. After death of mother, adopted by JS and Emma Smith at age of nine days. Lived in Hiram, Portage Co., Ohio, 1831. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co....

Also known as Merchants’ House. Four-story edifice with columned entrance and arched sign on roof. Located at 88 Pearl Street (oldest street in city). JS and Bishop Newel K. Whitney journeyed to New York City, fall 1832, and stayed at hotel. While at hotel...

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

had been staying at the hotel
at least a couple of days. The letter references an earlier
communication to Emma during the same trip, but only this one is
extant. JS was in New York with Whitney, who had been commanded in a
revelation dated 22–23 September 1832 to travel to the
cities of Boston

Capital city located on eastern seaboard of Massachusetts at mouth of Charles River. Founded by English Puritans, 1630; received city charter, 1822. Population in 1820 about 43,000; in 1830 about 61,000; and in 1840 about 93,000. JS’s ancestor Robert Smith...

State capital and county seat, located in eastern-central part of state on west bank of Hudson River. Area settled by Dutch, 1612. Known as Fort Orange and Beaver Wyck, 1623; name changed to Williamstadt, 1647. Capitulated to English forces, 1664, and renamed...

To “fulfill the Revelation,” as Whitney
later remembered, he and JS left Kirtland

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...

probably sometime in early October and traveled to New York City;
Providence, Rhode Island;
Boston;
and throughout New England.2

Newel K.
Whitney, Statement, ca. 1842, Historian’s Office, JS History
Documents, ca. 1839–1856, CHL.
JS’s
account, which differs from
Whitney’s
recollection, says that JS and Whitney went to
Albany,
New York City, and
Boston. It is likely JS and
Whitney went through Albany on their way to New York City since
Albany was the terminus of the Erie Canal
on the Hudson River and they likely
traveled by canal. Whether they traveled to
Providence is unclear; it may be that
Whitney’s recollection on this point is correct and that JS’s
history did not include Providence because the history was
relying on the list of cities given in the 22–23 September
1832
revelation. (JS History,
vol. A-1,
240.)

, who was
preaching in New England in fall
1832,
wrote in his journal that the mother of a
Boston

Capital city located on eastern seaboard of Massachusetts at mouth of Charles River. Founded by English Puritans, 1630; received city charter, 1822. Population in 1820 about 43,000; in 1830 about 61,000; and in 1840 about 93,000. JS’s ancestor Robert Smith...

church
member told him in November “that Joseph had been to Boston &
Prophecied u[n]to that citty.”
Whitney recalled that the pair also met Bishop

An ecclesiastical and priesthood office. JS appointed Edward Partridge as the first bishop in February 1831. Following this appointment, Partridge functioned as the local leader of the church in Missouri. Later revelations described a bishop’s duties as receiving...

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

mentions, JS
preached
in New York as well. Much of the time on the trip, however, was
spent purchasing goods for Whitney’s
Kirtland

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...

Both a literal and a figurative repository for goods and land donated to the church. The book of Malachi directed the house of Israel to bring “all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house.” In JS’s revision of the Old Testament...

An organization that supervised the management of church enterprises and properties from 1832 to 1834. In March and April 1832, revelations directed that the church’s publishing and mercantile endeavors be organized. In accordance with this direction, the...

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

Also known as Merchants’ House. Four-story edifice with columned entrance and arched sign on roof. Located at 88 Pearl Street (oldest street in city). JS and Bishop Newel K. Whitney journeyed to New York City, fall 1832, and stayed at hotel. While at hotel...

There was also
apparently an “Eastern Pearl-street House” located at 309 Pearl
Street, and there may have been a “Western Pearl Street House”
located at 307 Pearl Street, but
JS
referred simply to the “Pearl Street
House” without an east or west designation. (Williams, New-York as
It Is, 153;
Classified Mercantile
Directory,
73–74.)

The Classified Mercantile Directory, for the Cities of New-York and
Brooklyn. Containing, the Names, Occupation and Place of Business of All the
Principal Firms and Individuals. . . . New York: J. Disturnell,
1837.

Pearl Street ran for over a mile between the East River and
Broadway: from the Battery to a point one block from Five Points,
where it arced to the west until it intersected Broadway. According
to an 1834 guidebook, the street
featured “numerous spacious warehouses” and was “the principal seat
of the dry goods, and hardware business.”8

Williams, New-York as
It Is, 18–19; see also
Colton, Topographical
Map of the City and County of New-York,
1836.

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

Area settled largely by emigrants from New England and New Jersey, by 1788. Village founded and surveyed adjacent to site of Fort Washington, 1789. First seat of legislature of Northwest Territory, 1790. Incorporated as city, 1819. Developed rapidly as shipping...

,
Ohio, neither of which had a population close to that of New York
City, which had over two hundred thousand residents.9

“N.K. Whitney
Book, 25 Sept., 1825,” Newel K. Whitney, Papers,
BYU;
Bushman,
Rough Stone Rolling,
188.
The United States Census
Bureau reported that
Salem had a population of 13,895
and
Cincinnati had a population of
24,831 in 1830. When
JS
visited Salem as a boy in 1816, it
likely had a population of about 12,700. In 1830,
New York City had 202,589
residents. This did not include Brooklyn, which had another
12,406.
(Gibson, Population of
the 100 Largest Cities,
[30]–[32].)

Gibson, Campbell. Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban
Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990. Population Division Series 27.
Washington DC: U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1998.

Although JS in his letter expressed wonder at New York City and its
“great inventions,” he also reflected negatively on the inhabitants
of the city, perhaps because the 22–23 September 1832
revelation intimated that they were in the throes of
wickedness. The letter and its lengthy postscript give a glimpse
into JS’s and Whitney’s activities in New York City, including JS’s
discussions of religion with a young man he met in the city and
Whitney

30 Apr. 1831–12 Sept. 1880. Born in Warrensville, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio. Daughter of John Murdock and Julia Clapp. After death of mother, adopted by JS and Emma Smith at age of nine days. Lived in Hiram, Portage Co., Ohio, 1831. Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co....

, and of his concern
for Emma’s condition. JS had left his wife in an advanced state of
pregnancy in Kirtland

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

postage mark dated 13 October on
the wrapper. Emma apparently received the letter and kept it in her
possession, though it may have been kept for a time in JS’s office
in Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, LDS church purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas. Served as church headquarters, 1839...

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...

Two loose leaves, measuring 9¾ × 7¾ inches (25
× 20 cm).
JS
apparently folded the document to create a margin line prior
to inscription. The document was folded with two tri-folds
in letter style, addressed, and sealed with a red adhesive
wafer. The postage rate was inscribed in a large and
elaborate script in red ink. A circular date stamp was
applied in red ink. Docket in handwriting of Willard Richards

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

”. The document was refolded, apparently at a
later time, probably in connection with filing. Additional
docket in unidentified handwriting reads: “J. Smith | Oct 13
1832”. The two leaves appear to have been sewn together at
some point in time. Graphite pagination added on the recto
pages of the two leaves suggests that at one time the letter
was placed in an archival letter file or book. The document
has undergone some conservation.

The document
includes two autograph signatures. It was apparently received and kept by
Emma
Smith

10 July 1804–30 Apr. 1879. Scribe, editor, boardinghouse operator, clothier. Born at Willingborough Township (later in Harmony), Susquehanna Co., Pennsylvania. Daughter of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis. Member of Methodist church at Harmony (later in Oakland...

docket suggests that the letter was
kept for a time in JS’s
office in
Nauvoo

Principal gathering place for Saints following expulsion from Missouri. Beginning in 1839, LDS church purchased lands in earlier settlement of Commerce and planned settlement of Commerce City, as well as surrounding areas. Served as church headquarters, 1839...

, Illinois. The document was
apparently returned to Emma Smith because it came into the possession of the
Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now Community of
Christ). A late nineteenth-century printing of the letter in the periodical of
the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and late
twentieth-century archival correspondence indicate continuous institutional
custody.1